1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document reading device, and more particularly to a document reading device capable of selecting an appropriate data format in sending data to an external terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there exists a technique for sending data to an external device (a personal computer or the like) using a data sending function of MFP (Multi Function Peripherals). In sending data in this manner, the user designates a desired file format in MFP and scans a document. The image data is then sent to an external device in the designated file format.
When there exists no application that can display the data in the user-designated file format in a destination device, however, the data-receiving end cannot display the content. In this case, the document has to be scanned again and converted in the other format displayable at the destination device in order to resend the data. This unfortunately becomes a burden for the user.
Furthermore, since there are different kinds of TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), a TIFF format that is not supported by an application in a receiving-end device may often be selected as a file format. As a result, data cannot be displayed in such a case.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-174973 discloses a method of handling an error of expanding an attachment file at a receiving device, and a technique for making a notification by sending to an originator whether the attachment file of the received email can be viewed.
Also in this technique, however, a notification is made only as to whether an attachment file can be opened. Therefore if the file cannot be opened, the user has to scan the image in a different file format again for resending.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-304173 proposes a technique for storing a format of image data that was received before, and sending data in the same format as the received format in a subsequent sending to the other end.
Also in this technique, however, a determination cannot be made based on the application held at the other end.